Videoage International August-September 2020

26 Aug/Sept. 2020 “It’s better to do useful work badly than to do useless work well.” My 2¢ T he question is: Is it better to do useful work badly or to do useless work well? “Useful” work could refer to that of a farmer, a fishermen/fisherwomen, or a doctor. On the other hand, a “useless” job might be that of a Wall Street speculator, a lifestyle coach, or a TV trade journalist. We in the TV trade business do “unappreciated” work, which is probably considered useless by many… no matter how well we do it. So, to answer the original question, I think it’s better to do useful work badly than to do useless work well since few people really care what we do. And we in the TV trade media sector do something really “strange.” We depend on executives who know more than we do to get information that we repackage and then send back to those same executives. To overcome these feelings of inadequacy, I console myself by looking at past issues of VideoAge (or those of my former publication, Television/Radio Age ) and marvel at what was written 10, 20, 30, or even 40 years ago. After that I keep con- soling myself, thinking that, perhaps, over time, the his- tory books will do justice to the work of TV trade re- porters. Today, the industry tends to think that NATPE issues, for example, were a recent creation, but VideoAge ran this headline in its March 1982 edition: “Soap-talk, Court Shows, Barter Spotlighted at NATPE. Prime Access, Market Questioned.” And what about the problems with MIP-TV? They were highlighted in VideoAge ’s April 1982 issue: “Bernard Chevry’s Success Linked With TV Market Scheduling and Competition.” (Bernard Chevry was the founder and organizer of MIP-TV.) And MIP-TV’s problems didn’t end there, because in the April 1983 issue, VideoAge reported: “Buying Resurgence Seen in Cannes. Columbia Not Exhibiting. L.A. Screenings Looming Over.” April 1983 was also when VideoAge invented the term “L.A. Screenings,” replacing the less descriptive “May Screenings.” In a further effort to fight those recurrent inadequacy blues, I think back to 1992, when the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) asked VideoAge to help revitalize its association and we obliged with an article in the October 1992 issue titled, “Hollywood’s Foreign Press No longer Taking The Bum Rap For Globe Awards,” which was an appeal to save the HFPA. VideoAge also spotted talent well be- fore others in the industry did, like that timewe focused on the career of Armando Nuñez, Jr., a young executive who would go on to become the chairman of ViacomCBS Global Distri-bution Group. Nuñez was interviewed in the April 1990 edition of VideoAge with a headline that said: “When [Armando] Nuñez, Jr. Speaks... Bumpy Road Ahead.” Today, after 35 years in the TV business, Nuñez is recognized as an authority in the industry and serves as an advisor to the Group. A recent endeavor under- taken by VideoAge is to recognize the contribution of those executives who really did not need VideoAge — some might have even considered us a nuisance — with our “International TV Distribution Hall of Fame.” These and other considerations make me think that we in the TV trade industry havemade some significant contributions to the industry, first by anticipating trends and putting current challenges into perspective, and, second, by providing historical references while celebrating past executives. Dom Serafini When philosophy interferes with the pragmatic work of a TV trade journalist, it’s better for readers to run for cover before the sobbing starts. “ ...stay tuned for the continuing debate on when to issue the embargoed press release.”